... home of Ontario's premier pet photographer. This is where the photos of scruffy dog photography meet the heart and soul behind all of those fun and wacky photo shoots and the long hours in the digital darkroom ... a behind-the scenes peek into the zany life of a pet-exclusive photographer and her scruffy sidekicks. For more details on illona and the mcscruffies, check out the "about" section.

What you will find here is the past several years of blog entries -- selected client shoots, sneak peeks, facebook recaps, news and announcements, promos and specials, as well as info on canine health and general dog chat. (NOTE: previous years of blog entries have been archived.)

So, grab a cup of jo, give your scruffy a beef tendon to gnaw on, and enjoy the photos and ramblin's.

i’m finally catching up from an insanely busy christmas season. thank you, everyone, for keeping my autumn and early winter months hopping with a slew of interesting hounds.

one of the shoots from late fall that i had to back-burner for the sake of clients with christmas needs, was the one of an unlikely trio of two greyhounds – Sassy and Buddy – and their little munsterlander brother, Uli.

Buddy and Sassy – like most greyhouds off the track – are two easy-going, peas in a pod who definitely spin at the same cycle and know how to have a good time together.

i loved shooting these two … their wonderful spirit and their amazing eyes and colour … simply a dream. the only thing that could have made it better would have been to have these two runners off-leash in a fantastically wild setting somewhere. still, we had fun.

and we certainly got some running in …

it’s the details that i love so much in these majestic dogs, and Buddy and Sassy were very willing models (with the right treats, of course!).

what was really cool is that owners, Kathy and Dave, had filled their entire back yard deep in sand, just for their dogs. it was an awesome backdrop and, of course, wonderful light as the sun went down on our shoot.

but of course, we can’t forget young Uli – a.k.a. wild boy.

the greys certainly do their best to keep the young lad in line …

thanks, Kathy and Dave for a wonderful afternoon with your pack of three and for showing me the lovely town of Paris. and, again, thank you for your patience.

i shot this little guy several weeks ago in the midst of the pre-Christmas madness, so it’s only this week that i’ve managed to get his images finished and his gallery up. you might recognize him from a couple of my winter images already up on the blog.

meet Dexter … i call him Little Dexter, since i shot him in the same week as Big Dexter the german shepherd. Little Dexter was a blast, from the second i walked in the door … all happy wiggles and energetic bouncing, ready to go. and go we did … we headed off to the dog park under glorious skies …

… and Dexter loves the dog park.

but even after over an hour at the dog park, Dexter’s energy hadn’t waned in the least …

he was still as raring to go as ever, although we did manage to get in a few somewhat more sedate shots …

but Dexter would have still bounced into action if anyone had uttered the word ‘park’ or ‘walk’, i’m quite certain. here Dexter was watching the ducks in the back yard … i’m sure – given the chance – Dex would have have loved to give those ducks a run for their money.

thanks, Ariel and Dexter for the fun afternoon. i hope you enjoy your gallery.

Grace-These are all incredible! My favorite is the shot of Dexter totally airborne. Are you using “Igor” on your action shots? 🙂

Donna -What wonderful shots…love the one of Dexter flying…wow.

(dee_r on Flickr)

Idil-Oh, how I wish you could shoot my Odie, Illona. The way little Dexter happily runs reminds me so much of Odie. 🙂 Same kind of energy and enthusiasm… The photos are just AWESOME!!! You did such a fantastic job with this sweetheart 🙂

it’s a somewhat guarded-secret that the bigger clients of scruffy dog receive special gifts for their dogs in the way of a little bling … i won’t say more. but after numerous doggie-bling purchases, well, i kinda got to feeling that it was time for a little people bling … just a little somethin’-somethin’ to merry-christmas to myself.

well, to be honest, i wasn’t looking, but when i stumbled onto the website of Jill Beninanto – a fellow dog photographer and artist – of Sit Stay Smile Photography in Virginia, and tripped over to her etsy store , i simply had to have one of her leather cuff bracelets.

thanks so much, Jill. it’s perfect.

and of course, i chose the “fetch” cuff (instead of “woof” or “bark” or any of the others) … well … because of my girl, who means the entire universe to me, and fetches everything and anything i ever need … including my camera bag.

Jill Beninato-Thanks Illona for the plug! I hope you enjoy it and GET that tattoo! If I can do it anyone can…just bring a friend for moral support. If my friend wasn’t there, I may have left with half a tattoo…that would have looked real nice. I love how your dog holds your Crumpler bag…too darn cute! Happy Holidays to you!